Stolen Feathers
by LPegasus
Summary: VH. A stray wish brings Hitomi back to Gaea. As her life clashes with Van's, she is thrown into a world where marriage is strictly for profit, nations battle for power, and Escaflowne has been painfully wrenched away.
1. Dry Tears

**Stolen Feathers  
By LPegasus   
**

_Chapter 1  
Dry Tears _

Hitomi buried her head under her pillow, but there was no escape from the loud beeping of her relentless alarm clock. Reluctantly, she pushed aside her sheets, swung her legs out of bed and stood up. A dizzy spell hit her, having gotten up so quickly, and she swayed.

She yawned loudly and then crossed the room to her desk, where she shut off the alarm clock. By this time, the beeping had become somewhat of a monotonous drone in her ears. She rubbed her eyes, stretched, and glanced at the time wearily. She was running a bit late.

Turning back around, Hitomi contemplated crawling back under her warm covers and dozing off. She only had a week left of school until summer vacation, and after that, she would be a college student. Who cared if she missed one of her last days of class? She immediately thought of her parents and frowned.

Hitomi yawned again, sat down on her bed, and looked at the cardboard boxes piled up against the wall opposite her. She was finally going off to college! She couldn't help but be excited. The past three years of her life had been exhausting, and she had begun to loathe her daily routine of school, homework, track meets... College was a fresh start and a chance for more freedom.

A part of her recoiled from this thought, however. This part fought savagely to convince her to stay at home. It had been her choice to choose a college in the States, and leave her home outside of Tokyo. Her family and friends had discouraged her from applying as an international student, and after Hitomi ignored them, proceeded to attempt to convince her that she would never get into an American university and that her English was not good enough. Hitomi struggled, but ended up with the best English scores in her graduating class. And she was finally accepted into one of the dozen of American universities she had applied for.

Hitomi forced herself to stand up and walked over to her closet, where she began to dress. She put on her uniform as she had every day of her high-school career, and was glad to think that after this week she would never have to wear it again.

"Hitomi!" beckoned her mother from the stairwell. "Are you awake? You're going to be late for class!"

"I'm up!" shouted Hitomi, irritated. She pulled on her knee socks and shoes, and walked over to her dresser. As she was about to begin to apply her eye make-up, her cell phone rang in her bag. She dropped her eye pencil and walked over to answer her phone.

"Hello?"

"Hitomi?"

"Oh, hi!" Her voice brightened up.

"Do you mind if I don't pick you up today?" the voice asked. "I'm running late."

She nodded assent. "It's fine. See you at school?"

The voice consented and said 'goodbye' quickly. Hitomi closed her phone and let her eyes drift to a picture frame beside her bed. Ever since she had gotten into an American university and made her plans to leave Japan known, her relationship with Ryu had been shaky. He seemed disappointed with her, as if she were opting out of a life-time commitment. Slowly, they had drifted apart from one another, and Hitomi wondered at how they still managed to call themselves 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend.'

Hitomi crossed her room and picked up the photo of her boyfriend. It was a beautiful photo – Ryu sat on a picnic blanket underneath a large oak tree, shading him from the sun, and Hitomi was beside him, smiling nervously. She remembered how cheerfully he had asked a stranger to take a photo of them in the park, although she had been uneasy. It had been his idea to go on a picnic that day and he had prepared all the food for her. Hitomi had been shocked that he would go to such lengths to win her, and consented to go out with him. He was handsome and kind; Hitomi could not deny that if it hadn't been for him, she may still be hung up over the union of Yukari, and her first love, Amano.

She put down the photo, but glanced at it one last time. That had been the first time she had kissed a boy. She raised a hesitant finger to her lips, recalling the anxious but passionate pressure of his mouth against hers.

* * *

Van stomped into his sleeping quarters, running a hand through his black hair. The day was looking bleak. 

It had begun with a report on the state of the drought, which was only getting worse as it threatened to destroy all the crops before the harvest. He wondered how many more would die of thirst before the end of the month, although he did everything in his power to provide his people with water. His advisors had then pressured him with remarks on treaties that needed to be amended, especially those which concerned the neighboring kingdoms. International affairs were in a state of disrepair lately.

Van sat down on the floor, and lazily spread himself out. Turning his head over to look at his left hand, he watched his fingers bend and form a fist. The movement felt foreign, as if his hand were stirring on its own. And despite the fans in the palace, it was unbearably hot. The prospect of the coming summer was frightful.

Sighing, Van wished that he did not feel so strongly about Fanelia. Fighting for his country and people had caused him numerous troubles, and realizing that he held the future of Fanelia in the palm of his hand was frightening. He felt inadequate, when now, more than ever, he would have to be strong and competent to protect his home. Instead of ameliorating after the disaster three years ago, affairs on Gaea had slowly started to deteriorate. Nations saw the confusion as a chance to take control, and while some tried to keep the peace, most kingdoms took advantage of insecurities to seize control and make exorbitant demands on weaker nations. It was a time of mistrust and dishonest actions. Fanelia's place in such a system was unsure. His nation was not wealthy, nor was it terribly powerful. On the contrary, it had just barely been rebuilt after its utter destruction three years ago.

Standing back up, Van looked out of the window at the surrounding mountains, and felt idle and alone. It had been a long time since he had managed to escape the palace, since he had been to the top of those mountains. When he was younger, he was always meandering about in the woods, sometimes only coming back at night to worried parents. He wished he had time for such adventures now.

Looking down to the courtyard below, his eyes stopped upon a young woman wearing a blue, summer dress. The wind carelessly played with the folds of the fabric as she walked towards the courtyard gate.

_"Where's she going?"_ wondered Van, propping his head up on his hand that rested upon the window sill.

The girl suddenly stopped, turned around slightly, and greeted her handmaid who arrived beside her.

Van raised his hands to his face and covered his eyes. She was his future and he would have to accept it. It had been his advisors' idea to arrange a marriage with the daughter of a wealthy family from Asturia. Apparently she would help Fanelia rise to new glory as a more powerful kingdom, with new connections with Asturia.

He hoped so. Something had to come out of the marriage. Although she was polite, it was blatantly obvious that she hated his rural home. Whenever Van proposed that he give her a tour of the city or bring her to the temple in the woods, she refused and made up an obvious excuse to go back to her room. She was accustomed to more lavish luxuries than he could offer and distained him. Van had not been too kind either, but he was beginning to accept his fate. He could envision much more terrible ends to his days than she.

"Van!" snapped a voice from the doorway.

He turned around, smiling when he saw Merle in the doorway. He admired how she had grown over the past few years. She was several feet taller, womanly, and gracious. She no longer scurried about on four feet - preferring to walk on two in her new dresses - or licked her fur or jumped on him at every meeting. In the way of character, however, she not changed much. Although she kept more secrets from him, she was still as stubborn and inconsiderate as ever, or at least, on the facade.

"Van," she whined, as she latched onto his arm, "you promised that you would meet me in the garden once you were done!"

Van suddenly remembered their planned meeting.

"Sorry..." he replied. "I was tied up..."

"You never leave the throne room..." she muttered.

He turned away, refusing to meet her gaze. He knew that this was true and hated admitting it to himself.

"So what are you looking at?" she asked, walking over to his spot.

Looking out of the window, Merle scanned the courtyard below. When she eyed the girl in the blue dress, who was currently making her way out of the gate, she frowned.

"Why are you wasting your time?" she demanded, in her ruthless fashion.

Van looked over at her, raising an eyebrow.

"She's nothing like you!" she proclaimed. "If you marry her, Van, you'll just be unhappy... She does not belong here!"

It took Van a few seconds to realize who she was talking about, but when he did, he began to laugh.

"I can't do anything about it," he replied. "She's good for me and for..."

Merle snorted. "Are you joking? It's enough to make me wish that it was Hitomi."

Van looked away from Merle again.

"Did you hear me?" she demanded, placing two hands on her hips.

He sighed.

"Fine!" exclaimed Merle, stomping out of the room. "I should have left you alone! Why can't you be your old self?"

Van continued to look out of the window, even when Merle slammed the door shut behind her. If she had any idea how confused and unhappy he was, Merle might have restrained herself. Doubtful, but she may have... The last thing he needed was to think about Hitomi. When she had left him, he had been so sure that they would see each other again. But they came from different worlds and had separate destinies. Their lives would never clash again, and for that reason, he found it hard to say her name.

He let his head fall briefly into his hands, wondering when the awful day would come to an end. In desperation, Van decided that he should go apologize to Merle, and left his room.

* * *

Hitomi pulled the books and papers out of her locker and let them fall to a heap on the floor. Today was the last day that they had to clear out their lockers, and she had resolved to throw out everything that did not have any sentimental value. Her locker had been a mess to begin with, and when everything was in a pile on the floor, she barely knew what was there. She slowly began to sort through the pile, and made several trips to the nearest garbage can. As she continued to shift through the pile on the floor, a small box came to hand. She closed her eyes and patted the item, feeling its worn corners and familiar shape. 

When she came home from Gaea, she made a pact to never again deal another tarot card. Too much trouble had been caused by her ability to read the cards accurately. And that pact had gone hand in hand with one made about the necklace that she still tied about her neck.

She raised a hesitant hand to cup the fuchsia crystal. Never again would she make a wish on this crystal. But some habits died harder than others and she had not taken it off her neck for three years. Ryu had once asked her why she wouldn't take off the necklace, and wear the one that he gave her. She hadn't found an adequate answer and he had suspected her of cheating on him, until she told him a partial truth - that it was a gift from her late grandmother.

Carefully, she opened the box of cards and lifted them out. It went against her pact, but she couldn't care less at the moment. She felt whole, as if she were reuniting with a piece of herself. She felt peaceful and content. She was forced to admit to herself that she had not felt so peaceful in a long time.

On impulse, Hitomi closed her eyes, inwardly wished for some revelation, and drew the card on the top of the deck.

_The lovers._

Hitomi pushed her long, brown hair back and sighed. She had obviously lost her gift to read the cards.

* * *

Van sprinted up the grassy hill as fast as his legs could carry him. He felt free and alive. Although his journey had started as a quest around the palace and various parts of the city where he thought he was sure to find Merle, he had soon found himself walking down a dirt road out of the city itself. He had reached the woods rapidly. And then he had started running. 

As he reached the top of the grassy hill, he came to a halt in front of a solitary tree. He jumped to reach the lowest branch, and then slowly began to climb up the tree, feeling the smooth flex and bend of his muscles as he pulled himself up. When he had climbed high enough, he found an area where the leaves were not so thick, and shuffled closer to the trunk of the tree, propping himself up on a sturdy branch.

Finally, he was where he had wished to be all day.

He twisted himself this way and that, admiring the view from the highest point in Fanelia. On one side, he could see the entire city. It made his heart swell up with pride to see it rebuilt again, as though it had never been destroyed on those fateful days, three years ago.

On the other side, he could see forever. Most of the land was covered with dense forests or curving hills, but he imagined he could see a blurry outline of the ocean very far away. It was on that ocean that he discovered Asturia, met friends and foes alike, and fought Zaibach with Escaflowne.

He sighed, thinking of his poor guymelef, slowly deteriorating in the old temple by the palace. If luck was with him, he would never face a situation where he would have to use Escaflowne again. Yet a part of him rebelled against the idea. Van loved working with Escaflowne, in a battle full of emotions and life. He longed for adventures, not of sitting on a throne and ordering men to do his work.

Sighing, he realized that he should get back to the palace before his advisors had nervous fits. He had been away too long. So, casting one last glance about him, he started to slide off the tree.

Yet a black speck far off caught his eye, and he grabbed a nearby branch to steady himself before falling off the tree completely. Standing up slowly on this branch, and holding onto the trunk, he looked far off into the distance. He wasn't sure exactly what he had seen, but he could wager a guess. He needed another look.

He pushed the branches blocking his view out of the way, but this tact did not work very well and his vision was blocked. He then began to climb to the top of the tree, where he knew that the branches and leaves would be much less dense. But the tree was tall and old, and the branches nearer the top were thinner and snapped beneath his feet. He reminded himself that now was not the time to fall off and accidently injure himself. That had happened far too many times when he was younger, on the same tree.

When he arrived at the very top of the tree, Van pulled himself closer to the trunk, steadying himself. Looking off into the distance, he strained his eyes to see as far as possible. He was almost sure now that what he had seen was real, that it wasn't just an illusion. After several moments of searching and reminding himself that he had spotted something, he saw it again.

It seemed very small in the distance and could barely be seen. But from what he could tell, it was only a couple leagues away, and he knew that its current, small size masked an alarming grandeur. He watched it for a few moments, squinting when the sun dazzled across its black surface and blinded him. But the figure didn't turn away or disappear. On the contrary, it seemed to be approaching.

Van gathered his strength and began to descend the tree in haste, missing branches and tumbling most of the way down. He cut his hands and scraped his skin on the rough bark, but did not heed any physical pain. Once he arrived on solid ground, he began to dart back to the city. He needed to alert his advisors. There was no other major city nearby. The Zaibach floating fortress had to be making its way to Fanelia.

* * *

When Hitomi finished clearing her locker, she aimlessly meandered around the hallways. She still clutched the deck of tarot cards in her hand. 

She took a left turn at a fork in the hallway and passed through a set of doors. These led to a narrow path on the side of the school, overgrown with dark weeds. Tall bushes surrounded her on either side and leaned in menacingly. Hitomi wondered why no one had bothered to trim them recently. After walking down the path for a few moments, Hitomi arrived at the stairs that she had often leaped down down in haste. She was usually late to practice because of overdue assignments and had to sprint to the field. But this time, she quietly descended the stairs. Soon, she was making her way down the bleachers to the track.

Stopping for a moment, she decided to take a seat at one of the bleachers and admire the field, red and glorious from the afternoon sun. She loved to run and had spent so many hours on this field pursuing that passion. Many competitions had been won and lost here, and many pains still throbbed in this wound. It was on this track that she had sprained her ankle countless times, confessed her love to Amano, and met Van...

She buried her head in her hands. Thinking about him felt as though she were opening an old wound.

No matter how much she had done to escape, even by applying to a university in a new country, her thoughts always went back to him like a faithful dog.

* * *

Pushing back his hair in the same mechanical movement that he had repeated for the past fifteen minutes, Van slouched in his throne. He had managed to remain calm so far, but the realization that he would have to deal with the Zaibach Empire was not reassuring. 

The thought of a Zaibach consort entering into his territory would have been laughable two years ago. One year would have passed since the Great War and the people of Zaibach would have been weak and in no position to make demands. At that point in time, the people of Zaibach were tirelessly trying to restore order and repair the damages made by Emperor Dornkirk. They were also suffering from the retribution of the victors of the war. Asturia and other large, powerful nations had decided to punish the former Zaibach Empire, insisting that Zaibach pay for damages, change their political system, and demilitarize.

But unfortunately, out of the disorder in Zaibach, one of the generals under Dornkirk who had survived the war managed to usurp power. The people of Zaibach welcomed the order and strict rules that he proposed. They allowed him to recreate the Empire.

Van reminded himself of the rumors that he had heard in the city market a few months ago. Merchants had been talking amongst themselves about civil uprisings in the Zaibach Empire. Apparently, the people of Zaibach were not so fond of their new ruler now. Van had been unable to hear more though; the merchants promtly silenced themselves once they realized that they were in the presence of the king. Van found it so frustrating that he had to be followed around by this stigma.

"Sire!" cried a voice from the doorway.

Brought back from his thoughts, Van looked up at the messenger who was slowly approaching him. This one was gasping for breath after what must have been a long run, and alarming Van's three advisors who piled into the room after him.

"You have news...?" asked Van, dismally.

"A Zaibach consort has just landed in our territory," stated the messenger, who was slowly catching his breath and regaining his composure. "They should be here shortly."

Van nodded briefly, turning his attention to his three advisors. Only one seemed in possession of himself. The others were sweating profusely.

As the messenger quickly bowed and exited the room, this advisor strode up to Van.

"You must be strong now, my king," he urged Van kindly.

"I will be, Dernver."

He turned his head away and looked out of the window. His desire to escape had only grown.

Three men in dark uniforms were soon escorted into the throne room by five of the royal guards. The men's faces were unreadable. One man stood out of the group, marching at the head of the brigade. Van quickly observed that this man would do all the talking.

The three men strode confidently through the room as the guards parted to stand by the doors. The figure in the front, who Van had distinguished as the leader, stopped at a respectable distance from the throne, though it was too close for comfort for Van. He smoothed his dark, creaseless uniform before beginning to speak.

"Your majesty, King of Fanelia," he started, his voice as suspiciously smooth as his uniform, "we come here as representatives of the Zaibach Empire and of Gaea. We request your aid in order to further our pursuit of peace and justice on the continent."

"What help can I offer Zaibach?" asked Van, spiting out that last word with as much disdain as he could muster.

"Your majesty," continued the representative of Zaibach, unwaveringly. "The Zaibach Empire asks for one trivial object, a small sacrifice towards peace on Gaea. Your help will not go unnoticed and the kingdom of Fanelia will be greatly rewarded for its sacrifice."

"What is it you ask for?"

"We ask for Escaflowne. The guymelef will be dismantled by our technicians."

Van couldn't help but open his mouth in shock. Were they really asking him to hand Escaflowne over? The representative kept his stony complexion and waited patiently for an answer. It was true then.

The initial shock soon turned into disgust and anger. Van's temper overcame him.

"Dismantle Escaflowne?" he demanded angrily. "What the hell for?"

"The Zaibach Empire believes that the removal of such a strong source of power would prevent another Great War. It is a powerful weapon that must not fall into dangerous hands, and the Zaibach Empire and its allies have agreed upon its destruction. We hope that the kingdom of Fanelia, as a friendly nation, will join us in this cause and..."

"On the contrary, it would allow you to wage another war!" shouted Van, jumping up from his throne in his anger. "Your request is denied! You may not barge in here and demand Escaflowne!"

"I was told that you would reply in such a fashion," replied the head delegate, keeping his composure. "In such a case, I was ordered to inform you that it is in Fanelia's best interests to comply. The Empire will respond by force if you should not agree willingly."

Angrily, Van opened his mouth to reply, but Dernver cut him off promptly.

"Once we have come to a decision, we will send a messenger with our answer," affirmed Dernver. "Please accept our apologies in the meantime."

The representative nodded slightly to Dernver. He then turned on one heel and strode out of the room, followed closely by his two apprentices.

Van watched them leave the room, narrowing his eyes in distaste. How could they challenge his authority like that?

"They'll pay for being so blunt!" he snapped, facing his three advisors once the coast was clear. "I'll prepare Escaflowne now. With the help of the reserve army, we'll be able to take out their consort! It will take the floating fortress a few more days to get here, and that will give us time to..."

"Sire," interrupted Dernver, "I believe I speak for all of your advisors when I say that the better choice is to... weigh the issue reasonably. We don't have the means to fend off an attack from the Zaibach Empire. Fanelia is more important than defending a royal heirloom, one that has passed the peak of its usefulness in modern, political affairs."

"Are you saying that we should hand over Escaflowne?" Van shouted, his eyes darting between his advisors anxiously.

* * *

"Hitomi!" 

The girl in question looked up to find one of her classmates running towards her.

"Yes, Yuki?" Hitomi asked lazily.

"You have to come quick!" she urged, grabbing Hitomi's hand and pulling her up from her seat. "You won't believe what I saw... Come on!"

Hitomi nodded in assent. She stuffed the tarot cards into her bag before following Yuki at a run towards the school. The latter kept glancing back at Hitomi, shooting her nervous glances.

"_What's going on?_" wondered Hitomi, becoming more anxious with each passing step.

They entered the building and ascended to the fifth floor. Yuki slowed down as they made their way down the hall towards a classroom in the back of the building, and Hitomi followed suit. She was beginning to find this little adventure troublesome.

"Okay, can you just tell me what's going on?" she urged Yuki. "This is getting to be..."

Her words trailed off as they reached the door of the classroom, left slightly ajar. Inside, she could see Ryu and...

"I'm so sorry, Hitomi! I was clearing out my locker and I walked by the door, and I saw them together... I came to get you as soon as possible!"

Hitomi had stopped listening. She couldn't say that she was particularily surprised about this new development, but her anger quickly overcame her. She hadn't kissed Ryu in a long time and found it natural that he should get another girlfriend. But he should have the decency to tell her it was over instead of embarrassing her in front of her friends!

She pushed the door open violently and it slammed against the wall. Ryu and the girl broke apart and looked at Hitomi.

"Let me explain..." Ryu began. He seemed to be in a daze.

"What is there to explain?" yelled Hitomi.

She had had enough. Hitomi spun away from the door and started to run. Tears poured down her face as she sprinted down the hallway, leaped down the flights of stairs, and darted through the school doors. She wasn't sure where she was going, but she needed to get away. She ran out into the street, pounding down the pavement. Some students and passerbys stopped for a moment to look, but soon continued on their way.

Before long, Hitomi found herself running down a street towards the ocean. She didn't know where she was anymore and wasn't sure how to retrace her steps. She didn't care that she was lost. All she knew was the moment, the exhilaration of running, and the sensation that she was escaping her troubles.

Hitomi made it to the beach. It was peopled with large rocks, but that didn't hinder her flight. She jumped from rock to rock, aiming for the packed sand just a few steps beyond. As her foot touched the ground, she lost her balance and fell.

Once she hit the hard floor, Hitomi rolled over and grabbed her ankle in anguish. Her tears doubled as the pain in her foot grew. She had either pulled a muscle, or worse, sprained her ankle, and she didn't doubt her complete knowledge in these matters. She had sprained her ankle many times on the track at school, during competitions and practices. And as she suspected, when Hitomi tried to push herself up off the hard floor, her body wouldn't cooperate.

Turning herself over so that she could sit, Hitomi reached for her left foot. She massaged it for a few moments, trying to bend it, and concluded that it wasn't broken. And so, turning her mind to other matters, she started to brush mud off of her uniform. Now she would have a reason to throw it out.

Hitomi sprawled herself on the ground. She fell quiet, listening to the splashing waves. And then she started to cry harder. She was lying on a beach, had just hurt her ankle, and her boyfriend had cheated on her. She was pathetic.

"_I should call Mom..._" she thought. "_I know she'll murder me for having sprained my ankle again, but she'll pick me up. I'm lost anyway..._"

Hitomi stuck her hand inside her bag, reaching for her cell phone. Her tarot cards came to hand first. Ripping the object out of her bag, she flung it into the air in anger.

"Lovers, huh?" she screamed at no one in particular.

Another wave of tears - thankful ones this time - poured down as she realized what she just said. Her gift had not deserted her, and surprisingly, that filled her with a brief feeling of calm.

But this peacefulness was ephemeral. Hitomi screamed in frustration. She had tried so hard to escape her pains, but they followed her everywhere. Every day she had had to convince herself she was happy and that she was strong. She had forced herself to forget Van and the others... to forget Gaea. She had struggled with herself to believe that her life here was better than any other alternative, and had tried so hard to love Ryu. When all her attempts failed and she was left only with running and the love of her parents, she had tried to escape to another life in another country.

She was from the Earth – the Mystic Moon – and that was where she had to return. She belonged in this world, in this way of life. She would never have been fully happy over there...

"_I would have been happy with Van..._"

Hitomi let out one last burst of whimpers, before her tears ceased. They were meaningless now. She loved Van, and cry as she might, she would never see him again.

Propping herself back up into a sitting position, she glanced at her tarot cards. Her throw had been weak and they hadn't gone very far. Hitomi pulled the deck over and cradled it in her arms.

What did she have left? The illusion of her good life had once again shattered. She didn't have her boyfriend. She didn't have her home or parents or friends. She didn't even have running! She was going to college on the other end of the world and that was not the beginning but the end of everything!

She closed her eyes and clutched the cards closer to her chest. "I would give up everything for one trip back..." she whispered.

* * *

Van raced into his bedroom and slammed the door behind him. He felt like a young, unreasonable child. 

He marched over the pedestal in the corner of his bedroom on which lay the energist, and wrenched it off the pedestal violently. He then ran over to his window and readied himself to throw it to the ground below, where it would break and shatter. But Van's arm refused to cooperate when called upon. He had had to part with Escaflowne for the good of Fanelia, but he couldn't part with this little piece of himself as well.

He brought the crystal to his face, to better examine the surface. He remembered the land dragon that he had had to face in order to claim the energist. He remembered the effort that he had given to slay the dragon. He remembered meeting Hitomi and how she had saved his life for the first of many times.

What would she have done in his situation? Would she have given up Escaflowne so willingly? Not that he had had a choice... The delegate had made the consequences of not complying with Zaibach very clear.

When the messenger that Van had sent with the dreadful agreement had returned to the throne room, he had come with another message from the Zaibach Empire. Fanelia would be greatly rewarded for its sacrifice. The loss of the guymelef would be recompensed by the assurance of help from Zaibach, at any moment and in any place.

Looking out of his window, Van could clearly see the consort. They were loading Escaflowne onto their ship now. All his memories and hopes of adventure were going with the guymelef. He would be a poor king all his life, sagging and withering away on the throne, uttering words that held no power or importance.

He pried himself away from the window and sat down on the ground beside his bed. He hadn't expected this. He longed for the past, not for this new future. He longed for his friends, and even for Hitomi.

"_There... I've admitted it to myself..._" he thought, smiling slightly.

She had come to represent so many things that he had valued and lost. He did not want to move on.


	2. Living Dream

_Chapter 2  
Living Dream_

Hitomi opened her green eyes to the bright sun.

_"What's going on?"_ she wondered.

She propped herself up, blinking her eyes to adjust to the light. The same ocean surrounded her and the same rocks bulged up on her right. But why had it gotten lighter outside? And why did the air feel so much fresher?

Hitomi gasped as a frightening realization came into view.

"I fell asleep!" she exclaimed.

She jumped up, forgetting for a moment that she had hurt her ankle. As a result, she swayed slightly, but quickly regained her balance. She then reached down for her bag and pulled out her cell phone.

"Mom is going to be so worried..." she stammered.

She flipped open the portable, turned it on, and then waited patiently for the service to become available. But it wasn't working.

"Oh no..." she whined, wishing that her phone had picked a better time to be obstinate.

She frantically looked about herself, hoping that there was someone who could lend her a phone to make a quick call. There was no one. She was isolated on a grimy beach, covered in dried mud, and graced with a swollen ankle. This was turning out to be a great day already... Hadn't yesterday been enough torture? Why did it have to endure?

She looked at the rocks gloomily, realizing that she would once again have to climb up them in order to get back to the street. Perhaps she would find someone there who could lend her a helping hand...? So, grasping her bag and math book, she put aside the pain in her foot and started to climb. She smiled at her tenacity.

In a few excruciating minutes, Hitomi had made it to the pinnacle of the rocks. And as if the action itself hadn't been hard enough, during the whole task the only thing she could think about was her utter stupidity. She had been tired physically and emotionally, and the soothing beats of the waves had rocked her to sleep. She could clearly remember her last moments awake... when she lay back down on the warm sand and closed her eyes.

Hitomi raised her head to look about, wondering what street to take back to school and hopefully to a pay phone. But she didn't see a street, or homes, or cars. Instead, she saw a grassy plain and a dirt road that ran into the far distance. Mountains jutted out of the ground far away and jade green forests rampaged nearby.

"Am I dreaming...?" she whispered - stupidly, she thought.

She looked about herself and spotted a wooden lodge near the edge of the forest, beside the road. The landscape was eerily quiet, and the wind played with her hair.

Hitomi dazedly started to walk over to the lodge. Her foot throbbed but she ignored the pain. The only important thing right now was getting to the bottom of this strange situation. Was it a dream or had she been...? She couldn't bring herself to consider the possibility.

In a few minutes, she made it to the structure. She could distinguish the clinks of cups and the clanks of utensils within. Hitomi limped up the steps leading to the door.

Stopping suddenly on the last step, Hitomi jumped up and down on her good foot to test the ground. Was everything real or would the earth suddenly disappear from beneath her feet? When she saw that everything was still stable, she went inside.

Hitomi had occasionally felt that obtrusive feeling of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, of being so abnormal that all attention is drawn to you. These situations usually only followed an embarrassing situation at her high school. So it was much to her surprise when she walked in through the door and felt this unwelcome feeling.

The bartender stopped pouring drinks. All sounds of chatter instantly dissipated. About a dozen dirty men were looking at her as if she had barged in on their secret gathering, which perhaps she had.

She stood in the doorframe for an awkward second, wondering what she should do next. Everyone eyed her mistrustfully.

"What c'n I get ya?" demanded the bartender suddenly.

She let out a restrained breath of air, one that she had been holding since she walked into the room. Reluctantly, everyone went back to playing cards or talking... though it seemed a lot less lively than before...

Hitomi walked over to the bar counter, trying to force on a smile.

"Could I have some water?" she asked quietly.

The bartender raised his eyebrow, but then proceeded to grab a glass and fill it up. When he had finished, he forcefully placed the glass down on the table and then stalked off to tend to other business.

Hitomi sat down at one of the chairs surrounding the bar area. Raising a hesitant hand, she then picked up the glass and gulped down the water. She hadn't known that she was so thirsty. In a few seconds the glass was empty, and she placed it back down on the counter.

As far as she could tell, she seemed to be in a hunting lodge. Horns and stuffed animal heads covered the wooden walls, and rifles leant against empty tables. From her vantage point in the center of the room, at the large bar area, she could see that the hall was vast and many more tables were scattered around. The lighting was very poor though, and many corners were left in obscurity. She suddenly felt uncomfortable. The dozen men in the room appeared to be travelers or hunters of some sort, and they looked as though they hadn't showered in years. They were aggressive, violent, and freely snapped at each other as they dealt their cards or gulped down their drinks.

_"What a strange dream..."_ she thought.

Or at least... she hoped. This couldn't possibly be real.

Getting up abruptly, she decided that she had better leave.

"Where do ya think you're going?" snapped the bartender rudely, causing everyone to fall silent in order to better watch the scene.

"W...w...what?" stammered Hitomi.

"Ya didn't pay, milady..." continued the bartender, not bearing to mask his sarcastic tone as he uttered the last word.

"Oh..." whispered Hitomi.

She opted not to ask why water wasn't free and stepped back up to the counter. People in dreams usually weren't this impolite. They usually weren't very picky with currency either, so she began to empty her pockets.

"There..." she mumbled as she finished dropping change onto the table.

She looked up at the bartender, who seemed confused now. But this look soon became aggressive as he glared back at her.

"What do ya think ya're trying t'pull?" he shouted, in a heavy drawl that she was having more and more trouble understanding. "This ain't money!"

She looked down at her change dumbly.

"I want this!" he yelled, pulling a golden coin out of his pant pocket.

Hitomi blinked as it was thrust into her face, before realizing that she had seen many more of its kind before. She couldn't really be... could she?

Determined to come to the bottom of this strange situation, Hitomi tested the circumstances with fool-proof and age-old techniques. She pinched herself. And as her nails roughly bit into her skin, she let out a shrill yelp.

"I'm really here!" she shrieked. "What am I doing here?"

"Where's the money?" bellowed the bartender.

Hitomi instantly fell quiet. She was really in trouble, it seemed.

"I don't have any money..."

"No money, eh?"

Hitomi shook her head. "I can wash dishes... or something..."

The bartender looked at her with a piercing glare that made her shiver.

"Nah... 'round here we have better ways of dealing with thieves," he stated, grabbing her arm violently. "Much better ways..."

"I am not a thief!" she managed to yell, pushing aside her growing fright.

The bartender ignored her protest and proceeded to drag her around the booth. Hitomi pulled back with all her strength but found it hard to resist the pull of the burly man.

"What are you doing?" she stammered.

He didn't reply. But she found the answer when he pulled out a kitchen knife from underneath a cutting board.

"It's one finger per glass!" he snapped as he slapped her hand down on the wooden board.

Frozen in fear, Hitomi could only look up at the long knife as he raised it above her hand, poised to strike. The knife began its descent. Hitomi could only pray that she was dreaming, knowing full well that this was reality...

"Let go of her!" suddenly commanded a voice from the shadows in the corner of the room.

The knife slammed down on the cutting board, just a few millimeters away from her hand.

Hitomi pried her eyes open. They quickly checked to see if her hand was still intact, before darting off to gaze into the shadows of the room. Who had spoken?

"Out with ya!" shouted the bartender, pointing the knife into the shadows.

A man clothed in a long black cloak stepped out of the darkness. Hitomi longed to see the face of her rescuer, but it was hidden away from sight by a long, dark hood.

"What do ya want?" yelled the bartender more forcefully.

The man crossed the distance between himself and the bar with a slow but authoritative stride. Once he arrived in front of the bartender, he began to reach inside his cloaks for something...

The bartender tensed for a moment, expecting a weapon. Instead, he discovered a handful of gold coins.

"Take this and let her go," commanded the cloaked man.

"It ain't that easy!" he yelled back.

Hitomi swallowed hard, but the cloaked man did not once turn his head her way. He simply slammed three coins down onto the table, before grabbing the man's collar strongly, causing him to lose hold of his knife.

"Do what I say..." he whispered. "You have been more than fairly compensated."

Reluctantly, Hitomi watched the bartender let go of her arm. She carefully backed out of the counter area and away from the scene. She was increasingly becoming aware of the menacing frowns of the other twelve men in the bar, who seemed ready to draw their weapons and fight at need be.

Once Hitomi was out of reach, the cloaked man let go of the bartender. He toppled to the floor, gasping for air. While he attempted to catch his breath, the cloaked man spun away from the bar and started to stride purposefully towards the door.

As he came up beside Hitomi, who stood frozen, staring uncertainly at his actions, he slowed his pace. Suddenly, he grabbed her arm.

She opened her mouth to yell, but he squeezed her arm a little to let her know that it wasn't a good idea. And as if confirming his actions, he whispered a little something very close to her ear.

"Not a good idea..."

Hitomi glanced at the other men in the bar. Some of them had run over to help the bartender regain his composure. Others stood even more ready to pounce.

Before she could fully analyze the situation, the cloaked man continued to walk towards the door... dragging her with him! She followed helplessly, scared to make too much of a fuss. What would the other men in the bar do if she yelled?

The cloaked man pulled her out of the lodge and down the steps, before taking a sharp left. In front of them, a black horse-like creature was tied up to a wooden rail. Hitomi began to feel frightened once again as they walked towards the creature. Where was he taking her?

When they arrived beside the animal, the man wasted no time in grabbing Hitomi's bag and trying to take it off of her.

"Let go!" she snapped, prying his hands off of her bag violently.

"Calm down!" urged the cloaked man.

She ignored his advice, continuing to fight his hands off. He grabbed her arm forcefully, and to her dismay, his grip was even stronger than that of the bartender's. So Hitomi chose alternative methods, starting to twist around, slap, and scream.

"Hitomi!" yelled the man. "Calm down until we leave this place!"

She froze. How did he know her name?

"Hand me your bag and get on," he said, motioning towards the horse.

"Who are you?" she asked quietly. She felt as though she knew the answer. The voice seemed so familiar, yet so strange and different.

The man let go of her arm and lifted his hood up slightly.

"Come closer..." he whispered.

She did so uncertainly and peered up into his hood.

"Allen!" she exclaimed, throwing herself into his arms in surprise.

"Yes," he replied, laughing gently.

"Why did you hide from me?" she asked as she hugged him tighter. "I was so afraid! Why didn't you take off your hood sooner?"

"It's not safe anymore," he replied, his voice becoming serious.

She let go of him and looked up to his hooded face inquisitively.

"Let's go," he stated, turning away from her. "We have a lot to discuss."

Allen quickly untied and mounted the dark creature. He put a hand out to receive Hitomi's bag, which she gave to him willingly. After he strapped it onto the saddle, he offered her another hand to help her mount beside him.

"I've never been on a horse before..." she stated.

"It's okay." His eyes glanced furtively at the door to the hunting lodge. Fortunately no one had followed them out.

She smiled, grabbed his hand, and let him hoist her onto the saddle in front of him. Before she could adapt to the height adjustments, he spurred the creature onward. Hitomi grabbed onto the creature's mane and held on as they began to gallop down the dirt road.

* * *

He paced around the large throne room, the sounds of his footsteps on the marble floor resonating loudly as he crossed the lonely, dark room. He slowly rolled his shoulder in a circle to stretch it. He had been injured in battle many times and the wounds still acted up every now and then. 

There some wounds, not of the flesh, that ached incessantly within him. The pain from these injuries ran deep and strong. They throbbed every night in his dreams and in his nightmares. They pounded every time he contemplated what would have happened had he chosen another path or made another decision. They hammered every waking moment of every day. Forgetting the past was impossible and ignoring the present was unimaginable. Perhaps the future offered some solace. He would know shortly.

How he could still recall the sight of the devastation following the battle three years ago! All of the Zaibach floating fortresses had been decimated, including the one that he had been in command of. So many of his fellow soldiers had lost their lives to uncompromising forces. Their guymelef forces had been slaughtered. And all of this because one explosion had forever altered the course of the fateful battle. He wondered if anyone had seen it coming, and if the destiny machine had been fulfilling its ultimate goal.

He had long decided that all nations were responsible for the fall of Zaibach. When they had had the opportunity to welcome the nation back as a friend, they had shunned its people and imposed restrictions on the once great nation. They had been selfish and unfeeling, and would suffer the consequences.

"Your majesty!" stated a curt voice from the doorway.

Emperor Adelphos lifted his head, eying one of the army officers. The young man quickly crossed the room, bowing before the throne.

"There has been another rebellion in the southern part of the city," he stated. "The police are out-numbered and request more forces."

Adelphos frowned.

"The request is granted," he replied slowly. "Send the eighth battalion of guymelefs to resolve the issue."

The young man nodded curtly and left the room, the sound of his heels click clacking along the marble floor.

The Emperor rubbed his eyes and temples. If these uprisings continued once the war started, he doubted that he would have enough forces to keep the order in the cities. Men and guymelefs would be needed in other lands. But the Zaibach sorcerers faithfully reassured him that they had been working on a new project. If he was not mistaken, their first trial would take place in the coming days.

He couldn't help but laugh, letting out a rough sound that quickly died. He was not accustomed to laughing. He cleared his throat and pushed his dark hair back, slouching deeper into his throne.

* * *

Hitomi shrieked as the horse jumped over a small log galloped into the forest. Allen pulled off his dark hood and smiled. 

"Let's get off and walk?" he proposed.

He tugged on the creature's reins and it stopped reluctantly, rearing its majestic head in rebellion against this order Allen slid off of the horse gracefully. He then helped Hitomi down.

"Thank you," she said politely as he placed her on the good old earth.

They started to walk down the dirt path with a slow but firm stride. And quickly, silence overcame the pair. Only the wind rushing through the trees and the soft chirping of birds could be heard. Sometimes a squirrel would appear among the bushes, but upon seeing the group, it would quickly scurry up a tree to hide amongst the branches.

"I never thought that I would see you again..." he suddenly stated.

She looked up at Allen and smiled. But this smile soon turned into an uncertain frown. She had not counted on ever seeing Allen again either.

"I never thought that I would see you... that I would see..." Hitomi stuttered as a reply, before breaking out into half-hearted sobs.

They stopped walking, and Allen pulled Hitomi into an embrace to comfort her. She wrapped herself into his large cloak with all her might, as if everything would disappear if she did not cling on tightly.

"Why are you here, Hitomi?" he asked kindly, when her sobs began to quiet down.

She pushed away from him and looked into his eyes questioningly. Although it was a slight change, he was not the same Allen as three years ago. He seemed tired and weary, as if he had endured many sad, unfair things. She wondered if this new world was a happy place.

"I'm not quite sure..." she replied, trying to recall the night on the beach.

She remembered wishing with all her might to be returned to Gaea and to see her true friends again. She figured that only then she would escape from the unhappiness that she had been feeling for the past three years. However, she couldn't tell Allen about this.

"I just woke up here," she continued.

He nodded, though he couldn't help but feel a bit discomforted by the idea. The last time Hitomi mysteriously appeared on Gaea, she brought the tides of war. This time, things may not be so different from the last.

"And what are you doing so far from Asturia?" she asked, wiping the remaining tears away from her eyes.

"I haven't seen Asturia for two years," he replied, starting to walk down the path again.

Hitomi followed, head brimming with questions.

"I've been traveling," he continued, before she had the chance to ask, "Drifting, one might say. I was heading off in the direction of Fanelia when I met you in that lodge. I'm glad that your scream woke me up, Hitomi. I had dozed off, but who knows what might have happened if I hadn't..."

"Why was it so dangerous?" interrupted Hitomi.

Allen looked at her with kind, caring eyes. "The world isn't a safe place right now. Any one of those travelers in the lodge would have killed us for a glass of water."

"A glass of water?" continued Hitomi.

"Water is a scarce resource these days," he sighed. "A drought has been menacing this part of the world for the past months. It's only a matter of time until nations start fighting each other over this."

Hitomi let her gaze fall to her feet. Would Gaea ever be saved?

"I'm not going to lie to you, Hitomi. Things have not improved. Since the fall of Zaibach, everyone has been pushing their borders. And now that Zaibach has re-emerged as a supreme power, there seems to be little hope."

"I see..." whispered Hitomi, as her eyes rose slightly to look at Allen. He did not meet her gaze. They were coming up to a large clearing in the forest, where a grassy plain spread out over a flat expanse of land.

"Where are we going?" asked Hitomi.

"To Fanelia," replied Allen. "Those are your wishes, are they not...?"

Hitomi nodded, and raised a hand to shade her eyes from the sun as they walked out onto the plain.

"Allen," she asked, "why have you not been to Asturia in so long?"

He paused for a moment, but as he began to reply, they heard noises overhead. Allen hastily pulled the cloak over his head and wrapped Hitomi within it.

"Allen..." she stammered. "What's wrong?"

She looked up into the sky. A huge craft was rapidly flying over the plain. In a moment, it was gone. But before Hitomi lost sight of the dark flying machine, she felt her head twinge slightly as one word came to her mouth...

Escaflowne.

How could that be possible?

"Why were you so frightened?" demanded Hitomi once Allen's grip on her arm had loosened and the danger had seemingly passed.

"I wasn't afraid," he stated. "I just wanted to be careful. A consort from the Zaibach Empire is still dangerous. Let's move more quickly now."

Hitomi watched Allen mount the horse-like creature, and let him help her on shortly afterwards.

"We'll be in Fanelia by nightfall," he stated, spurring the the animal onwards.

They started to gallop, and after several minutes, Hitomi felt herself falling into a deep sleep. The rocking movement was soothing, perhaps even more so than the waves on the beach. Besides, Allen was there to protect her now. She let her eyes drift closed and leaned back against him.

"Oh, Allen."


	3. Restless Slumber

_Chapter 3  
Restless Slumber_

Van couldn't sleep.

He pulled his pillow from under his head and slammed it down over his face. The obtrusive object cut off his oxygen supply, and, letting out an exasperating sigh, he threw it away forcefully. The pillow hit the ground with a thud on the other side of the room. He then rolled over to his other side. He was even more distracted than before in this position. He could see the energist clearly from this vantage point, and it reminded him of today's failures. The moon shone light into his room and onto the energist, light that split smoothly over the surface of the gem. Van rolled onto his back instead.

He was feeling warm. The heat of the day barely cooled off in the night and his covers trapped heat and made him sweaty. He kicked them off.

He felt thirsty.

He tried to ignore the biting feeling, but a few minutes later it was unbearable.

He needed to get water from the kitchen.

Van sat up and slowly rolled out of bed, landing with his knees on the floor. He sluggishly got up. But before he could make two steps, he saw a sparkling of light in the corner of his eye.

"What was that?" he whispered to himself, directing his attention towards the window.

He stuck his head outside. Looking right and left, it was obvious that there was nothing to see. Just as he was about to give up, he saw the sparkle again. And it seemed to be coming from his room.

Van backed up, looking at his room in perspective. His eyes landed on the energist.

"_It couldn't be the crystal... could it?_" he asked himself, ruffling his hair with one spare hand. "_But why would that happen? Why would it glow now...?_"

Van looked at the energist for a few moments, forcing himself not to blink, before shaking his head. Nothing was happening. He was just tired and delusional.

He started to head out of his room and to the kitchens, before hearing the sound of hooves echoing in the courtyard.

"I must have an audience with the king of Fanelia," stated a very authoritative voice outside.

Van ran towards the window. Looking down at the courtyard, he spotted a cloaked man addressing one of the guards on duty.

"He... he is sleeping, my lord..." replied the guard, in an uneasy voice.

"Then wake him!" commanded the cloaked man.

"_I know this person... where have I heard this voice?_" wondered Van.

As the guard tried to persuade the cloaked figure to come back in the morning, the latter, unswayed, handed the reins of a large, black steed to the sleepy-eyed stable boy who swaggered onto the scene. The figure then proceeded to lift a human-sized object off of the saddle. Van could not really distinguish this object in the darkness.

"Do not waste my time!" the cloaked man threatened to the guard.

Van remembered and gasped. He cursed his memory for having forgotten so much in three years.

"Allen!" he yelled from the window.

The cloaked figure looked up at the voice.

Van quickly dressed himself and ran down to the courtyard. But by the time he arrived there, Allen had disappeared. Wondering whether the guard had brought his guest to the throne room to await his presence, Van ran down the hallways to this room. It was empty.

"I should have told Allen to wait for me in the courtyard," he mumbled.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Van wondered if the guard had brought Allen to his chambers. So he meandered back to his room, finding the room empty and restless. Van was beginning to get frustrated and wondered at how Allen had been able to pull a disappearing act on him so quickly.

And still, Van was thirsty.

He then began the long crusade of stomping angrily over to the kitchens.

As he passed one of the dining rooms, he spotted the same dark cloak.

"What are you doing in here?" demanded Van.

Allen looked over his shoulder, a shrewd smile coming onto his face.

"I've often heard tale of the hospitable Kingdom of Fanelia, which gives hearty food and drink to all travelers that pass through its gates," he stated, gesturing towards the provisions on the table.

Van smiled, acknowledging defeat. He walked over to the table and resumed a more serious countenance.

"It's been three years, Allen, since I last saw you. You've practically disappeared of the face of Gaea," commented Van, grabbing a glass and filling it up with water. "This _is_ a very unexpected visit."

"It would have been."

Van looked up and eyed Allen carefully. This man never ceased to surprise him.

"Then why have you come?" asked Van as he gulped down his glass of water. "You were very forceful towards that guard earlier. The reason for your coming must be_ very_ important."

"I suppose that both reasons are important," replied Allen, as he set down his glass of wine.

"Both...?"

"Milord, do you request anything else?" asked a voice from another doorway, leading to the kitchens.

Van looked up and spotted one of the servants.

"No, this shall suffice," answered Van, with a quick nod of the head.

The servant retreated into the kitchen, closing the door silently behind.

Van turned to look at Allen once again. His friend had changed in the three years since he had seen him, and not in what could be considered a pleasant way. His mouth was set firmly in his jaw and seemed to fall naturally into a frown, although it had once been graced with generous smiles. The dark cloak that engulfed him gave him a dark, mystifying and dangerous allure. His appearance was unkempt and savage, and he looked weary and worn by travel.

"Is it true that you are no longer a knight of...?" Van began to ask.

Allen turned towards Van with an impassive look, which succeeded in silencing the king. "Yes, it is true, though I have not come here to talk about the past."

"Then what have you come to talk about?" asked Van.

"Yesterday, I had a chance encounter with a very old friend... I met a girl that I had never expected to see again of my living."

"Hitomi! Where is she?" demanded Van, realizing with a shock that the bundle he had seen in the courtyard was her.

"She's sleeping in a room down the hall," replied Allen.

Slamming his cup down on the table, Van started to stride out of the dining room. He _had _to see Hitomi.

"Van," emphasized Allen, "it would be best that we let her sleep tonight."

The young king slowed to a halt.

"How can you tell me to wait?" yelled Van, as he turned around to glare at Allen. "I've been waiting to see her again for three years! Do you expect me to sit back and relax with Hitomi in the next room?"

Allen's gaze did not falter as he eyed Van carefully.

"Let her sleep," continued Allen. "She's been through a lot. Hitomi never expected to come back to Gaea and is exhausted."

"Why is she here?" barked Van.

"I was hoping that you could answer that question."

"I can't!"

"It seems as though fate has once again brought her to Gaea..."

* * *

Hitomi awoke with a start. Cupping her head in her hands, she tried to quiet her breathing. She had never had a dream as realistic as this one! She had dreamt that she had returned to Gaea! Being attacked by a bartender, seeing Allen again, learning that Gaea was falling apart... 

"Okay, so it doesn't sound real now..." she whispered to herself.

Swinging her legs out of bed, she decided that she needed a glass of water to calm her nerves. She started to walk towards the door to her room, following the same trajectory that she had made numerous times in the darkness.

She yelped as she walked into a wall.

"You were not there last time!" she yelled at the inanimate object.

As it did not reply, she kept feeling for the doorknob.

"_Where has it gone?_" she asked herself.

Realizing that she had no chances of finding the doorknob in complete darkness, she felt for the light switch. A few minutes scouring the walls to no avail led her to give up the hunt. Perhaps she had better just go back to bed and wait until daylight...?

Turning around, Hitomi started to feel her way towards the bed. It was then that she saw some light spilling out from underneath her window. Carefully, she headed towards it, fully expecting to crash into her desk. But she never came into contact with the desk and arrived in front of the window without hindrance.

A bit confused, Hitomi started to reach for the drapes. But they weren't there. Instead, what seemed to be shutters covered her windows. She reached for the handles and pushed the shutters out.

Her mouth opened in shock as she gazed out of the window onto a moonlit courtyard. This did not belong to a dream, but to a very true reality.

Alarmed, Hitomi backed up, away from the window. She tripped and toppled into the bed behind her. Pushing herself up immediately, Hitomi ran over to the door, now lit by the moonlight.

She wrenched the door open roughly and ran out into the dark hallway.

"How can you tell me to wait?" suddenly yelled a voice down the hallway. "I've been waiting to see her again for three years! Do you expect me to sit back and relax with Hitomi in the next room?"

Hitomi staggered backwards as she recognized _his_ voice.

She quickly jogged down the hallway, following the sound of his words.

"_I have to see him again!_" she thought.

But as the hallway became eerily silent, Hitomi started to wonder if she hadn't just imagined Van talking. Slowing down to a walk, she continued nonetheless. If he was here, she had to see him. And so she came upon a room where light flowed out into the hallway.

"_He's in here..._"

Before she realized what she was doing, she halted before the entrance and pressed herself up against the wall beside it. She couldn't bring herself to enter.

"_I want to see him, but it's been so long!_" she helplessly thought, as she allowed herself to lean against the wall beside the door. "_What if he doesn't remember me...?_"

She rolled her eyes. Of course he remembered her! Still, she seemed frozen beside the door. The idea of seeing him again was frightening. How would he react?

"It seems as though fate has once again brought her to Gaea..."

Hitomi moved her head a bit closer to the doorway as she overheard Allen's voice. Van and he were having a conversation, and she could hear everything.

"That's not a comforting thought," stated Van, with a resigned tone.

"There's another reason for my coming here," continued Allen, seeming to ignore Van's last statement. "On the road here, I happened to cross paths with a Zaibach consort coming from this direction. Were you aware that they had passed through Fanelia?"

"Yes, I was aware," replied Van.

"They could have been scouting your kingdom. Did you not..."

"They weren't scouting the territory," snapped Van. "They came on diplomacy."

"Diplomacy?" asked Allen, seeming to be surprised. "With Fanelia?"

"Well, it wasn't exactly diplomacy," sighed Van. "It was blackmail. They told me that they would not spare Fanelia from conflict if I didn't give them what they wanted."

"What did they ask for?"

"Escaflowne."

Hitomi grabbed onto her necklace in shock. She remembered seeing the consort with Allen. She remembered thinking of the guymelef as the consort passed. They had stolen Escaflowne from Van!

"And you gave them what they wished?"

Hitomi listened intently for the answer.

"I had no choice!" argued Van. "It was my people or Escaflowne. Fanelia is safe and will remain safe so long as I play my cards carefully. I couldn't chance anything by risking confrontation with the new Zaibach Empire."

After Van's sudden outburst, silence overcame the room. A few long moments later, the conversation finally picked up again.

"I understand your duties as the king of Fanelia," conceded Allen. "Although I cannot believe that Escaflowne should belong to anyone other than the king of Fanelia, perhaps it is best that the guymelef can no longer be used. You no longer have Escaflowne and Zaibach has no energist. But I wonder... why would Zaibach demand Escaflowne?"

"I don't know!" snarled Van. "I did what I had to do to protect Fanelia. I didn't ask needless questions!"

At that, Hitomi heard someone stomp out of the room, slamming a door in his wake. It was obviously Van.

"_He hasn't changed very much,_" she thought, a smile coming onto her lips. "_But why would he just give up Escaflowne like that? Wouldn't he rather fight than give up all hopes of protection?_"

Hitomi pushed herself off of the wall. She ought to head back to her room and try to get some sleep. But as she started to walk back down the hall to her room, she heard a voice that halted her in her tracks.

"Hitomi, did you hear our conversation?"

Hitomi turned around and gave an uneasy smile to Allen.

"I couldn't sleep," stated Hitomi quickly. "I was going to see if I could get a glass of water. I didn't mean to hear..."

Allen smiled. "Would you still like a glass of water?"

"If it's okay..."

Allen led the way back into the dining room and Hitomi followed closely behind. Walking up to the table, Allen grabbed a glass from a serving dish and poured water into it from a crystal carafe. He handed it to Hitomi.

Their fingers brushed as she took the glass and Hitomi was acutely aware of the sensation.

"He really has changed..." mumbled Allen, turning away.

"Changed?"

He looked back to Hitomi.

"Van would never have given Escaflowne up without a fight. Three years ago, he wouldn't have given anything up without a fight. He seems almost passive now. Perhaps those are the duties of a king...?"

Allen turned away from Hitomi and gazed out of an open window.

"It seems that all rulers have to make choices which hurt themselves and those they love."

Hitomi studied Allen intensely as he continued to look out of the window with a fixed gaze. Hitomi found herself wondering, yet again, what had become of him since she had last been on Gaea.

He finally looked back at Hitomi and smiled softly. "Perhaps you had better get some sleep. We'll have to decide what to do with you tomorrow."

She nodded and turned around swiftly, starting to leave the room. But before she had crossed into the hallway, she turned around to look at Allen.

"Goodnight," she said.

He nodded.

Clutching onto her water glass, Hitomi left the room.

"_Van is not the only one who has changed,_" she thought.

* * *

Hitomi woke up to a bright spring morning feeling unsettled. She had barely slept all night. Thousands of thoughts had run rampant through her head during the night hours, and when she finally drifted into slumber, it was unsettled and haunted with strange dreams. 

She could still remember one of these fantasies.

She was standing on a cliff overlooking Fanelia. Turning around, she saw guymelefs nearby. They were watching her. And these were guymelefs from Zaibach! There was something strange about them. They did not feel natural, but inhuman and metallic. Then it was over.

Pushing aside the sheets, Hitomi walked over to the window and looked outside. Why was she here and why was she having strange visions once again? Did fate once again bring her to Gaea?

She shook her head. She had wished to come back. But how many times had she made the same wish? A wish unanswered for so long! Why would she be brought to Gaea now?

"If only I could understand for once..." she whispered.

"Hitomi!" yelled Merle as she pushed open the door and ran through the room to hug the confused girl. "I just knew you'd come back! I knew you wouldn't leave Van forever! I knew that you didn't want to hurt him!"

Hitomi smiled and, the element of surprise gone, hugged Merle back with all her might. It was nice to see her friends again. Still, there was one very good friend who she would have loved to see by now.

"Where's Van?" asked Hitomi, unable to keep the question to herself.

Merle pulled away and looked at Hitomi sadly. "That's the thing... he's never around anymore! He's always in the throne room and never has any time to himself, let alone for any of us."

"Oh..."

"But you can change that, right?" asked Merle, looking hopeful.

Hitomi smiled back. Merle had really grown up over the past three years. Although she still had the same bubbly, temperamental personality, she looked and acted different. She seemed older and more mature. Even the way she held herself reflected these changes.

"You're not a child anymore!" exclaimed Hitomi

Merle shook her head kindly, and looked Hitomi up and down. _Neither are you_, she seemed to say, and a sad look overcame her.

"What's wrong?" asked Hitomi, taking hold of Merle's hand.

Merle pulled it away. "I can't lie to you, Hitomi! There's something I have to tell you!"

"What... what is it?" stammered Hitomi.

"Hitomi, Van is getting married!"

"What?"

"You can't let him throw away his life!" continued Merle. "She's nothing like him! She's horrible!"

Hitomi frowned. She had not even considered this!

Without warning, a hesitant knock came from the half-opened door.

"Um... come in!" faltered Hitomi.

Hitomi hadn't expected that her reaction to seeing Van would be so intense. He had grown up too. He was no longer tall and lanky, and very much unlike the boy she had known three years ago. Although he was still not very thick in build, his body looked strong and muscular underneath his loose-fitting shirt. His hair was still that very dark shade of black, but it had grown a little bit more into a shaggy mop. His eyes were still dark and brown and penetrating. She froze and looked down.

"Hitomi..." whispered Van as he looked at her intensely.

But Hitomi couldn't reply. All she could think about was the fact that he was getting married. She almost wanted to cry.

"_I can't let him see me like this!_" she thought.

At that, she ran out of the room as fast as her legs would carry her, brushing by Van on the way out.

"Hitomi!" yelled Merle as she sprinted out. "Where are you going?"

The girl in question kept running. She ran down the hallway, into the dining room, out of a door leading into the courtyard, and across the courtyard to a dry fountain.

Throwing herself down on a bench beside the fountain, Hitomi started to cry. Everything had gone wrong. He was getting married!

"_How could he?_" she thought.

It was then that she remembered Ryu. She had had a boyfriend over the course of the past three years. Why shouldn't Van love someone as well?

Thinking about Ryu made her cry even harder. She had to admit that she never really loved him, but she still cared for him nonetheless. Thinking about him opened up fresh wounds that needed healing.

Hitomi looked down at her ankle. With all the excitement, she had completely forgotten that it needed healing as well. Although the pain had gone, it was horribly swollen.

"_I really need to rest it,_" she thought. "_Otherwise, my ankle will never heal._"

Looking up at the white clouds above, Hitomi became aware of the unbearable heat that enveloped her and remembered Allen saying something about a drought. This spring was awfully warm.

Wiping her tears, Hitomi rose off the bench. She needed to be strong now, of all times. She didn't know why she was back in Gaea or why her wish to return had been granted. Perhaps her reason for coming back had not yet been revealed?

In any event, she would do what she could to help. Gaea was in a state of warfare and she would need to protect her friends. She could begin by telling Van and Allen about her strange vision last night.

Hitomi started to head back towards the palace. She needed to find Van and control herself this time. She wasn't quite sure what she'd say, but anything would do.

Suddenly, Hitomi heard a shrill scream.


	4. A Second Loss

_Chapter 5  
A Second Loss_

Spinning around, Hitomi searched anxiously for the source of the scream. Her eyes landed upon a young woman in a blue dress, sitting on the ground a little way off. From what Hitomi could see, the girl seemed afraid of something, though there was nothing in sight.

"_She probably saw a bug, or something..._" argued Hitomi.

She continued on her way. Hitomi needed to find Van and made amends with him. This was not the way to greet him, even if he _was_ getting married and probably didn't want to talk to her and didn't...

Hitomi froze.

"Watch out!" she cried as she turned around once more to face the girl. Hitomi began to sprint towards her, putting aside the growing pains in her foot. Before she arrived, however, a metal tentacle shot out from the sky, aiming directly towards the girl.

"Move!" yelled Hitomi as a last resort.

The girl rolled away seconds before the guymelef took her life.

Hitomi quickly arrived beside her and began to look around for the guymelef. It was no where to be seen. At the same time, an alarm went off in the castle.

"_There must be more of them..._" thought Hitomi. "_Could it be possible they're attacking the city?_"

She closed her eyes briefly, letting her thoughts wander... she knew she could see the guymelef and reveal it. She had done it before!

Hitomi gasped. "Get up!" she ordered the girl, who was frantically looking about. The girl didn't respond. Hitomi grabbed her hand and yanked her up quickly. They jumped over to the side as another metal barb clanked on the ground behind them, having missed its target.

Then it unveiled itself to her. The familiar purple and black body stood before her eyes. Hitomi recognized these guymelefs, the same ones that had done so much damage three years ago. But there was something different about it this time, something that sent chills down her spine.

Her thoughts were interrupted as another blade was shot towards them, more violently this time. Hitomi pulled the girl over to the side, just barely missing the attack again.

"Why don't you move?" she yelled at the girl, as the guymelef prepared itself again. "Get a hold of yourself!"

"I can't see it!" the girl yelled back.

Hitomi sighed as they evaded another blade. Only she could see the guymelef so long as the invisibility cloak was still on.

"We've got to run!" yelled Hitomi, pulling the girl along. "It's our only hope!"

They began to run as fast as they could towards the castle, but the girl's skirts got caught up in her legs and this slowed down their progress.

"We have to stop!" yelled the girl. "It's gone away!"

Hitomi looked over her shoulder at the guymelef, lumbering behind them. Why was it going so slowly? Three years ago, they wouldn't have lasted more than a few seconds against one of these.

"It's still there!" yelled Hitomi. "Keep moving!"

"I command you to stop!" snapped the girl. "I refuse your help, you..."

Another tentacle shot out and slammed into the ground behind them, sending the two flying.

When Hitomi recovered from the shock, she propped herself up and cast her eyes towards the girl...

"Get out of the way!" yelled Hitomi as the guymelef took aim.

The guymelef turned its artificial head towards Hitomi instead, as it became aware of her presence. It began to move its arm over to face her, aiming with a steady line.

Hitomi tried to stand up. But this was attempted in vain. Her ankle would not respond as she tried to put pressure on it. The shock from the fall had injured it further, and without proper attention, it was only getting worse.

The metal blades shot out at Hitomi, who could only close her eyes in response. But they never reached her. Prying her eyes open, she saw Allen standing in front of her, deflecting the blades with his sword.

She quickly looked over to the girl. And there was Van!

"_Why is he helping her... and not me?_" she rashly wondered.

"Hitomi! Get up now! We've got to get out of here!" yelled Allen.

"I can't! I've hurt my ankle!" she implored.

Allen pushed the blades away with one final shove, sheathed his sword, and picked up Hitomi.

"Van! They're too strong!" yelled Allen. "We have to go!"

"No!" yelled Van. "We have to stay and fight!"

"Van, they've already destroyed most of the palace and are wreaking damage in the city! You heard your advisors! You heard the messenger! They told you to leave!"

Van nodded in resignation. He grabbed the girl by the hand and urged her onwards. They all ran towards the palace.

"The stables are right in front of you!" yelled Van from behind.

Hitomi looked over Allen's shoulder and peered at the guymelef. It was slowly creeping up behind them.

They soon arrived at the stables, and Allen put her down for a moment in order to saddle a steed. Van did the same, but was hindered by the girl who refused to let go of his arm. Hitomi began to dislike the young lady whom she had saved, and snorted in derision.

Quickly and efficiently, Allen and Van saddled up two mounts, even though they kicked and threw themselves around their stalls in fright.

Hitomi glanced towards the door of the stable. "It's coming!"

A metal claw shot through the door, shattering it into pieces.

The guymelef slowly advanced towards them, and Hitomi gazed at it with growing concern. She could hear other loud bangs and crashes coming from other levels of the palace and surroundings.

Breaking her out of her trance, Allen snatched her up and dragged her to the top of his steed. A metal claw hit the ground behind them as the creature lurched forward.

"Let's go!" yelled Van, already a few strides ahead.

Allen kicked his steed violently, and both creatures raced out of the stables towards the open road.

"Don't go through the city... Take the road through the woods!" yelled Van, and Allen took a right at a fork in the road. "Dernver said he would gather up whoever was left in the palace and wait for us at the first bridge crossing into the next province!"

Looking behind, Hitomi checked to make sure they had outrun the guymelef. She soon realized that it was too slow to pose a threat. Still, Hitomi felt insecure and clutched onto Allen harder. How could all this have happened and so quickly?

The steeds raced down the road, which rose at an incline. The large plain gave way to jutting cliffs, and through some breaks in the rocks, Hitomi could make out the city below. In a few moments, they had reached the top of the plateau.

A small speck in the distance caught Hitomi's eye, and she leaned over a bit to have a better look at it. On the tall cliff above the city, four guymelefs were standing in formation. Hitomi suddenly remembered the episode from her dreams that night.

"Let me go!" she snapped, pulling on the reins. The mount came to a halt and she leaped off. Her ankle twinged as she hit the ground, but she limped towards the edge of the cliff nonetheless.

"What do you think you're doing?" yelled Van, as he toppled off his steed and followed her.

Hitomi gasped and fell to her knees.

"Are you okay? Hitomi, answer me!"

She could only look out in front of her with a blank gaze. Fanelia was alight with flames.

Van followed her to the edge of the cliff and looked at Fanelia. He closed his eyes in pain.

"We have to go!" suddenly shouted Allen. "There is no time to sit and watch!"

Hitomi turned her head to look at Van, and was shocked to find tears brimming in his eyes. He returned her gaze for a moment, before wiping his eyes carelessly and pulling her up.

Without a second glance back, Van pushed Hitomi towards Allen who helped her back up, and mounted his own steed . The girl quietly made room for him on his saddle, and once everyone was settled, the two horses began to gallop down the road.

* * *

It was nightfall by the time they reached the first bridge. 

As they slowed to a walk, Hitomi was shocked to find that only one person awaited them on the old, wooden bridge.

"I am glad you have finally arrived, your majesty... I just made it here myself," greeted a cloaked man.

The man pushed back the hood of his cloak, revealing a warm smile. A brown beard covered most of his face, but two very bright blue eyes outshone the darkness.

"Dernver... are you the only one here?" asked Van.

The bearded man's smile fell into a deep frown. "Yes, I am afraid so."

Van sighed. The guymelefs' attack, though slow and unprecise, had succeeded. Zaibach guymelefs had burnt Fanelia to the ground, destroyed the palace and city, killed numerous innocents, and scattered his remaining people... yet again. Van slid off of his mount and stalked off into the woods.

"We must continue forward... this is no place to stop!" called Dernver.

"Let him go," commanded Allen. "We should determine what will be our next course of action before we move blindly anyways."

"Sitting here and waiting for the enemy is blind," replied Dernver.

"I agree..." added the young woman. "Let's go to my father in Asturia, he will surely protect us."

"No one can protect us from these guymelefs!" exclaimed Hitomi. "I would think that you had realized that by now!"

Silence suddenly overcame the group, and Hitomi became aware of Dernver staring intently at her.

"Do not talk to me in this fashion!" snapped the girl, outraged. "I do not need a maid's opinion on how to conduct myself!"

"I am not a maid!" yelled Hitomi, who immediately remembered a similar accusation from Millerna.

"I don't care what you are! I've tried to be nice to you, but you ought to hold your tongue if you plan on talking to me this way and never again..."

"She is right," interrupted Dernver. "It is improper to talk to the future Queen of Fanelia without suitable address. Perhaps you do not know our customs very well... What is your name?"

"Hitomi."

"And where are you from...?"

"That is enough!" interrupted Allen.

Dernver eyed him suspiciously. "I do not see why so straightforward a question should be denied an answer. What are you hiding, coming to Fanelia in the middle of the night with this girl?" He glanced at Hitomi briefly before continuing. "If I may be so bold, I wonder if you are not trying to create problems here, as you did in Asturia..."

"That _is_ too bold!" snapped Allen. "And if I may ask, why is it that you are the only one to greet us here? Are there not other advisors? Did no guards survive the attack?"

"Few survived. I lost those that did on the way here. We took different roads out of the city, but they will surely join us along the way."

"A convenient answer, I see."

"I'm going to go find Van," stated Hitomi, sliding off her steed. She braced herself for contact with the ground, and after one initial jolt of pain, began to limp in Van's direction. She needed to rest her foot, but now was not the time to do so.

Although Allen nodded, Dernver looked at her suspiciously. "Do you not think it better to let his future bride attend to him?"

"Let her go," snapped Allen.

Hitomi did not bother to look around, but continued on. She really wanted to find Van.

"_If anyone can help him, I know I can,_" she told herself.

She limped further and further into the woods, before finding a clearing that gave way into a field. Stars adorned a black velvet sky, but none shone so brightly as her home, the Earth. Hitomi couldn't help but wonder if she would ever see it again... for the second time in three years.

And she was not the only one looking at the sky. Van was standing just a bit further off, looking upwards, and she slowly hobbled over to him.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered.

He looked at her. "I didn't think you'd come after me. Not after you ran away from me this morning..."

"That was a mistake," she replied, her smile becoming softer. "I couldn't leave you alone this time."

He turned away from her and looked back up at the sky.

"Why are you here?" he asked abruptly.

The question caught her off-guard and she stammered in reply. "I... I don't know. I think I may have wished for it... My boyfriend had been cheating on me, and so I ran away, and then I wanted to be here and..."

"You had a...?"

Hitomi frowned. "It's nothing compared to getting married to someone! And to someone as rude and pretentious as that girl!"

"I didn't ask for it."

"Oh..." mumbled Hitomi. "But I assumed that you loved her."

"You're not the only one who wished for your return," whispered Van, turning his eyes back to the sky. "Still, even if you and I both wanted to see each other again, and both wished for it, I don't see how it would be enough to make anything happen. Seeing you just means that another gloomy fate has come."

"Van..."

"And this time I don't even have Escaflowne!"

"You can get it back."

Hitomi put her hand on Van's arm, trying to comfort him. He pushed her away roughly.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" shouted Van. "I'm nothing without it... just a powerless king with a burnt-down kingdom! They said that they wouldn't attack... They said that they would leave Fanelia alone! Isn't Zaibach pleased with three years ago? Why do things keep repeating themselves?"

"Thanks Van..." muttered Hitomi sarcastically, nursing the hand that he had pushed away. "Next time you're upset, why don't you just kick my bruised ankle too?"

Van suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace. "Forgive me... I'm glad you're here. Don't leave too soon."

Hitomi pulled him closer.

* * *

That night, Hitomi dreamt that she had returned home. Never did she imagine that the sight of her parents, her house, and her room would cause her so much pain. She could only remember Van's last words, when he told her that he didn't want her to leave. 

"I can't go yet!" cried Hitomi, sitting up with a start.

"Hitomi, are you okay?"

She sighed and looked at Van. He had refused to go back to the group after their discussion, and had insisted on spending the night in the field.

"We should go back..." he mumbled. "They're probably wondering what happened to us."

"If they were worried, they would have come to get us hours ago."

"Allen probably warded them off..." muttered Van.

He helped Hitomi up. Slowly, they padded back into the woods and over to the bridge. The rest of their group was pulled a little way off the road, quietly resting.

"Where have you been?" demanded Dernver, as soon as he caught sight of them. Hitomi blushed, though she wasn't quite sure what she was embarrassed about. It only got worse as she caught Allen smiling knowingly at her.

"I didn't want to come back here," sighed Van, earnestly.

Dernver sighed before continuing. "Deciding what to do next is our first priority and I couldn't make any decisions without your presence. You should have thought of everyone's safety before trudging into the woods and getting lost with this... girl."

"Although I respect your opinion, this is enough," snapped Van.

Dernver's eyes narrowed slightly. "I only try to do what is best for our kingdom and its king. Excuse my rash behavior. I have only one other suggestion, and that is that we immediately make way to Asturia."

Van nodded in agreement.

"I cannot agree to this," Allen said immediately. "There are some places where we will not be accepted."

"We did not ask you to accompany us," Dernver added.

"I did," insisted Van. "Now can we cease this fighting? There are more important issues that need to be resolved." Directing his gaze at Allen, Van continued. "Asturia is the only place where we will find friends..."

"And foes," interrupted Allen.

"But it's the only place we can go for now."

Allen turned away from Van. "If this is your decision, then I will follow you."

"Van!" suddenly yelled a voice from down the road.

Van turned around eagerly. "Merle, how did you find us?" he exclaimed.

Merle quickly crossed the distance and threw herself into Van's arms. "I'm so glad I found you! I heard you telling your advisors where to meet you, but I didn't know if I'd get here in time... I ran so long and I didn't stop all night!"

Hitomi smiled. Some things really never did change. There was an uncanny ability in a cat to find its master. And, as Merle thrust Hitomi's bag into her arms, there was an uncanny ability of her bag to find its own way back to her.

"Oh Lord Van, you have to go back to Fanelia... It's burning! Everyone is scattered again... I was so afraid!"

Van cast his eyes downward.

"Merle... now's not really the time to..." cut in Hitome, sensing Van's distress.

The cat in question looked at Hitomi with daggers in her eyes, and succeeded in silencing the latter. "You're not going to start, are you?" whined Merle.

"That's enough," stated Van. "We can't go back to Fanelia now but we will soon. We have to head for Asturia."

"So we're going home?"

"Yes, Violet... you're going home," replied Van, sighing.

"Oh good!" exclaimed his bride-to-be. "We'll finally be safe!"

* * *

Van felt guilty. Although it hadn't been his fault that Merle refused to ride with anyone but himself, Van felt as though it was wrong to make his future bride ride with Dernver. She looked uncomfortable and would surely tell her father about this.

"My lord, a tavern!" shouted Dernver from ahead. "We ought to stop and buy provisions. We'll never make it to Asturia otherwise."

"It would be better if you went on ahead to the tavern alone," suggested Allen. "We are still too close to Fanelia for Van not to be recognized, and it is suspicious for the king to arrive at an isolated tavern without a consort. We want to remain invisible."

Dernver sighed. "My lord, do you share this opinion?"

Allen glanced at Van briefly but meaningfully. "Yes, I do. Take Violet with you. A couple travelling together will be less suspicious."

"I have no desire whatsoever to partake in this," snapped Violet to deaf ears.

"It shall be done," conceded Dernver.

At that, he began to trot towards the tavern, taking his reluctant passenger with him.

"What do you want to tell me?" asked Van, once his advisor and Violet were out of earshot. "I can't keep doing this. I trust Dernver and he should be able to hear what you have to say as well."

"No," replied Allen, "he cannot hear what I have to say. I do not share your trust for this man, and I must be honest when I tell you that it concerns me that he is set on going to Asturia."

"Why?" asked Hitomi. "What's wrong with...?"

"Ever since the king perished, Asturia had been controlled by the nobles," replied Allen. "Princess Eries is letting them take too much power. If we go there, our friends will not be able to help us."

"You exaggerate," stated Van. "Violet's father will surely see to us, and from there we will be able to plan our next move."

"Lord Brogan, this father that you speak of so dearly, deals with Zaibach every day!" scoffed Allen. "He will not fail to surrender you to the enemy should that serve his interests. Money and power are still the weights on the scale, and you have neither. Last time we went to Asturia, only Escaflowne protected you from being surrendered to the enemy."

"Then we have to find Escaflowne first," asserted Hitomi.

Van looked at her with surprise. "How do you expect us to do that?" he shouted. "Even if we assume that Escaflowne is still in that floating fortress, we could never find it now!"

Hitomi pulled out the familiar necklace from underneath her shirt. "I did it once before. I can do it again."

"Your necklace is not going to get you inside the floating fortress alive," said Merle. "And it isn't going to get Escaflowne out!"

Hitomi snorted in anger.

"Wait!" suddenly exclaimed Van. "I do have this..."

Reaching into the pocket of his vest, he pulled out a round object covered in a thick cloth. Pulling off the cloth, he revealed the energist.

"I grabbed it before I came to find you..." he said. "I didn't want to leave it behind... and I wondered if I might need it eventually."

He looked up at Hitomi, exchanging a brief smile with her.

"Van," spoke Allen, "last I checked, Gadess was in charge of the post on the frontier of Asturia. With some convincing, he might just lend us his services and help us find Escaflowne. But we cannot bring Dernver."

"What?" exclaimed Van.

"He will refuse and insist that we go to Asturia. If we want to take action, we must leave now! The post is only a day's journey if we do not stop on the way. Isn't Escaflowne your first priority?"

Van cast his gaze away from his friends and to the tavern. Even though he did not want to admit it, Allen had a point. Dernver would refuse to accompany them to the post. He was a political advisor and would consider this to be a very rash decision. Violet would also be against the idea. She would refuse to go anywhere but to her father in Asturia. Neither would want to risk their lives to find a guymelef.

He turned back to Allen. Van had to make up his mind quickly if he wanted to find Escaflowne. It would only be a matter of time before Dernver and Violet came back from the tavern and impeded their escape. It would only be a matter of time before he lost the track to Escaflowne. He had clues now, but soon the guymelef might be moved again, and then he would not know where to search.

"_I have to find that floating fortress,_" he thought. "_It's the only way._"

Hadn't Dernver been the one to suggest that he give up Escaflowne, in order to protect his kingdom? Hadn't all of his incompetent advisors told him to do so? Zaibach had attacked Fanelia anyway. Now, he had nothing to protect himself or those he cared for.

"Van?" asked Hitomi. "What do you want to do?"

"The only thing I can do," he replied. He glanced at Allen for a second, before they both urged their steeds forward.


	5. Second Crusade

_Chapter 5  
Second Crusade_

"I'm starving!" whined Merle. "Aren't we going to stop?"

"Soon, I promise..." mumbled Van. "Just stop asking!"

Merle had been complaining about her stomach for an hour now, and Van had been yelling at her for almost as long. But he couldn't deny that he was beginning to feel the effects of hunger as well. It was afternoon now, and he hadn't eaten anything since last morning.

Glancing for a moment at Hitomi, he realized that she must be hungry too. She had been frowning for a couple hours now. And although she kept her qualms to herself, when she finally did get frustrated, she was a force to be reckoned with.

"_Maybe we should stop..._" he thought, uneasily.

The answer to his prayers appeared as a small town on the horizon just ahead. Slowing their horses down to a trot, they approached the village cautiously. They wouldn't want to draw to much attention to themselves...

"Finally!" cheered Merle.

Van couldn't help but laugh in response.

In a few moments, their rides reached the main road of the town. On either side of the road, low buildings in disrepair stood crowded. Further off, small shacks constructed out of plywood, which he assumed to be houses, were surrounded by withering gardens.

Van looked up at the hazy sun. Its reflections on the sandy path blinded him and his companions, and he wondered if the drought would ever come to an end. But rain was the furthest thing from his mind. Van soon realized that something was more disconcerting than the shabby houses and blistering heat. The village was empty.

"What do we do?" he asked, looking over to Allen and Hitomi.

She shrugged, but Allen pointed towards something in reply. "Can you see the sign up ahead? It could be an inn. Perhaps we can stop and rest ourselves there."

Van followed Allen's finger further up the road, to find a tattered abode, isolated on a hill beside a large willow tree, split in half. Slowly, they made their way to the inn.

Arriving in front of the weathered settlement, they dismounted and tied up their mounts. Van looked around dismally as he appraised his surroundings. The large lawn in front of the inn had long dried up and the dirt path leading to its front door was brittle and cracked. Shingles hung loosely from the roof and sections of the whitewashed gate had toppled over. The inn itself looked as though it were sinking into the ground on one side, and Van wondered if the floors inside were not slanted. If they could find suitable food and water here, he would be surprised.

Van lent Hitomi his shoulder as she hobbled up the stairs after the rest of the group. He opened the front door for her, and shortly after, followed her into an obscure room. Multiple tables filled a large, dark space and a wooden bar area lined the side of the wall. The surfaces were dark from grease and candlestick wax.

As Allen and Merle went to the counter, Van helped Hitomi to a seat.

"Is anyone here?" Allen's voice echoed forcefully through the room.

"Maybe we should use this?" asked Merle. She pressed a bell sitting on the counter and it rung softly.

They waited patiently for a moment, but no one replied. "It's empty... we should move on," stated Allen, turning around.

As he said this, a slow creaking noise came from behind the bar. Turning around carefully, he watched with surprise as a door behind the bar opened up.

"Sorry for keepin' ya waiting," stated a tall man, withered in face and lanky in stature. "I ain't been expecting anyone in these parts as of late..."

Allen sighed. "It's fine," he replied. "We've come for provisions. What do you have to offer?"

Van watched as Allen approached the bar and began dealing with the inn keeper. It was nice to have someone around who could help him, instead of advisors who only complicated the matter with their inability to take action and be courageous when it mattered most. It was nice to be with his true friends, instead of pretentious fools who only thought of themselves.

"_I'm not just a king anymore,_" he thought selfishly. "_I finally have the adventures I want._"

Did these come at too hefty a price, however? He had lost Fanelia a second time and Gaea had once again fallen into a state of disrepair. Van suddenly felt ashamed and very much a child for having wished for these adventures in the first place. He would have been content staying a lonely king his whole life if this couild have been avoided.

"Van...?"

He looked over to Hitomi, who seemed concerned. She must have been watching him as his inner emotions played on his face.

"I'm fine, don't worry..." he replied.

She grabbed his hand kindly, and smiled. He gripped it tighter.

At least one good thing had come out of this mess. But what was he supposed to do with her? He hadn't given it much though. He had been so surprised and pleased at her arrival that he couldn't bear to think of her return. Did she even want to go home?

It had pained him immensely when she had left Gaea three years ago. But there seemed to be nothing he could do... they were from two different worlds and she had to return to hers. Would he be forced to endure another separation this time? Or were they already detached from one another? He was going to be wed and she loved some boy from her world.

He scoffed loudly, and Hitomi looked at him inquisitively.

"So that there's two loaves o'bread, six apples, one pound of..."

Van looked up as the inn keeper read off a list.

"And water... enough to fill up our..." continued Allen.

"Water, sir?" exclaimed the tall man in reply. "That'll run ya up to a mighty high price!"

Allen sighed. "Yes, but it's needed nonetheless."

The inn keeper shrugged.

"Would it be possible to have a glass now?" piped Merle, who had stayed beside Allen during the whole procedure.

The man behind the bar looked to Allen, and after a curt approval, began to reach for a glass and fill it up.

"So what brings you sir and your companions to these parts?" asked the man casually.

"Business," replied Allen, sternly.

The inn keeper looked at him sceptically. But it was best to leave customers alone in the name of profits, so he threw off his look.

"The heat's been bad here," he continued, placing the glass on the counter. "Been great damage to the crops, and you'd be awed by the way the river just dried right up in one month! And after the first of 'em fell ill, this place cleared right on up."

"Ill?" asked Allen, cautiously.

"Oh, yes sadly... a' vomiting and falling off left and right. The shade o'blue that them turn..."

Allen's eyes widened. He looked immediately at Merle, who was raising the glass to her lips greedily. He pushed it out of her hands and it shattered on the floor.

"What did you do that for?" she yelled.

He looked at her anxiously. "You didn't drink any, did you?" he demanded. "Tell me you didn't touch it!"

She shook her head, confused.

"Well then that concludes our business," he stated immediately, turning away from the counter. "Hitomi... Van... we must move on."

"Going without pay'n for a glass a' water?" shouted the inn keeper.

Allen sighed. "That water was unfit for anyone to drink," he replied curtly. "If I were you, I would toss the container. Furthermore, I would leave your inn until the drought passes."

"I ain't wanting your favors!" yelled the man, pulling a dagger from underneath the bar counter. "Pay the money!"

Van crossed the room and drew his sword. What little light there was in the room played dangerously on his blade as he pointed it at the inn keeper. His eyes widened as he recognized the emblems on the hilt of Van's sword.

"Let's go," ordered Van, helping Hitomi out of her chair.

Only once they had safely made it out of the inn, mounted their steeds, and rode a few minutes down the road, in silence, did Van ask Allen what the dilemma was all about.

"Cholera," he replied. "The heat must have ruined the food. We should be careful from now on. Hopefully we'll make it to the post before the end of the day."

* * *

The inn keeper frowned as he watched them leave. Perhaps he had better leave as well and head for Asturia? He had to admit that there was not much business to be had in these parts. 

His thoughts drifted to the young man and his sword. The symbols on the sword had been the royal emblems of the King of Fanelia! He frowned. Either this boy was king, or he should have yelled at him for having stolen such valuables.

Turning around, he began to head back to the door behind the counter.

"Is anyone here?" asked a voice from the entrance.

He slowly faced the door again, praising his luck for having had two clients in one day. Maybe this one wouldn't ask so many questions and would pay for what he ordered? Just as a precaution, he'd keep quiet about the strange illness that he had recently seen.

"Yessir?" he replied.

A man in a dark uniform made his way to the counter.

"I was wondering if you could help me find someone..." he began.

* * *

"You have not yet found them?" snapped Adelphos. 

A lieutenant shook his head abruptly.

The fact that the guymelefs sent to Fanelia were faulty had already hindered Adelphos' plans. Although the creeping, sluggish machines had been able to destroy the city, they had failed in assassinating the king. And since the monarch was alive, Escaflowne might be retrieved, which was the last thing that Adelphos wanted to surrender.

"_But even if the king is alive,_" he thought, "_he will never be able to find or reclaim Escaflowne. He has no weapons!_"

"Sire!" suddenly yelled a voice from the entrance.

Adelphos looked up, eying the messenger. "Speak," he commanded.

"We've gotten word of the king of Fanelia," he continued. "Our agents have found traces of him and three companions. We have reason to believe that he is heading for a post on the outskirts of Asturia."

"Can you be certain?" he snapped.

"They did not purchase any provisions along their route, and unless they were able to bring them from the city, they will need to stop shortly. This post would be their only option for many miles. We have also been informed that a routine inspection of the post is to occur tomorrow. It may be possible to accept the royal dignitary charged with the task before he reaches the post."

Adelphos had no doubts when it came to the corrupt nature of the nobility and government in Asturia. Over the course of the past years, he had been able to buy off many leaders in many different cabinets there. But would this dignitary be able to find _and _seize the king of Fanelia?

The general sat down on his throne in his most regal fashion.

"Here is your reply," he began assertively. "Tell your commander that he shall intercept this dignitary. I give him permission to use as much currency, within reason, to persuade this dignitary to assist us in securing the king of Fanelia. If he will assist us, I want the king of Fanelia killed in no more than two days. If he will not, or if he does not succeed, attack the post."

The messenger nodded, bowed curtly, and strode quickly out of the room.

Adelphos lowered his head in meditation.

* * *

Allen slowed his horse down to a trot once they spotted the familiar battlement. The post – _his_ post – stood imposingly on the next hill. It had endured much since he last saw it and little had been repaired. The wooden giant seemed to be leaning to one side, and parts of it seemed burnt and damaged from the last battle it had seen. 

"Food!" exclaimed Merle happily, getting a laugh from Hitomi in response. Allen couldn't help but smile slightly too.

In a few moments, they had crossed the distance separating them from the post, and entered into a dusty courtyard. A few rails stood on each side of the square, and they walked their mounts over to these and tied them up.

"Do you think they'll recognize us?" asked Merle.

Allen reached for the hood of his cloak instinctively, bringing it up over his head. He did not know how many new soldiers were stationed here, and didn't want to take any unnecessary chances.

"Yes," he replied smoothly. "Shall we go then?"

Allen strode across the courtyard to the entrance of the fort, followed closely by his three friends. Two soldiers waited at the doors, with narrow eyes and stern faces. They looked at Allen suspiciously, taking notice of his long, dark cloak.

"We would like an audience with your sergeant," he stated. "If I am not mistaken, it is..."

"Are you looking for me?" yelled a voice from the upper level.

Making sure that his hood did not slip off, Allen tilted his head to look at the figure leaning over the balustrade up above. But he was no longer concerned about concealing his identity, knowing that his friends were still in possession of the fort.

"Gadess, it's me!" he called.

"Let them in!" he shouted at the guards from above.

These two nodded and stepped aside to allow them passage. Allen couldn't help but notice how eager they were to serve their commander. They were probably young and new in the service, as had once been the case for him.

They walked into the main hall and waited for Gadess. He appeared a few moments later, and smiled slightly before his face fell into a more pensive form.

"Follow me," he said curtly.

Gadess led them down the entrance hall in silence. They turned right, and walked quickly through the fort until they reached a sturdy, wooden door. Allen recognized his old chamber and cast a glance at his old desk as they entered the room. The papers that were now scattered upon its surface were not his, nor were the books, nor was the gold-pleated sword leaning at its side. He raised a hand to the hilt of his sword, remembering the one that they had taken away from him two years ago now.

"I heard about the attack on Fanelia," confided Gadess, after he closed the door behind the group. "I have to say that I was hoping you'd come here before you went on to Asturia."

"Yes, there is much to be said," conceded Allen.

"And that hasn't been said," accused Gadess, narrowing his eyes at Allen. The latter returned this challenging look with one of his own.

"Listen, we're all starving..." muttered Van, ignoring the animosity between them. "Can you just point us in the direction of the kitchens?"

Allen lowered his eyes to the floor as he listened to Gadess' thorough directions. Once they were completed, his three friends left the room and began their trek downstairs. He could hear their footsteps echo down the hall.

"You're forbidden from returning to Asturia."

"I would hardly call this place Asturia..." replied Allen.

A long moment of silence passed between them. Allen began to wonder if he had made a mistake in believing that he still had friends here.

"It's good to see you," suddenly said Gadess.

"It's been a long time," agreed Allen. "I didn't believe that I would live long enough to ever see this broken-down shack again."

Gadess laughed. "Don't kid about _your_ ability to stay alive."

Allen crossed the room to sit down in a nearby chair.

"Listen, you may have heard about Fanelia, but I can assure you that you did not hear the whole story."

Gadess sat down at his desk chair. "Well if Hitomi is back, I imagine not," he sighed, cupping his head in his hands.

"Zaibach took Escaflowne."

"What?" exclaimed Gadess. "How did that happen?"

"From what Van has told me, it seemed to have been a fair trade at the time. The safety of Fanelia was exchanged for the guymelef. But Zaibach didn't hold up their end of the deal. They never do."

"Can they use it?" asked Gadess, anxiously.

"No... only Van can," replied Allen. "He's bound to it by the energist, by blood pact. And I know what you're wondering... I have no idea why they want Escaflowne again."

"This can't be good...even if they can't use it to serve their own means."

"We need to find the guymelef and reclaim it. I don't know what Zaibach is planning, but the attack on Fanelia is only the beginning."

"And you want me to help get it back?" snapped Gadess.

This sudden change of tone startled Allen, though he did well to conceal his surprise. He should have remembered that things had changed. "If you and your men will assist us, I cannot ask for more."

"Cut the formalities, we've been through too much for this."

"Fine then, I want a ship and Scheherazade."

"You know I can't give you any of that!" yelled Gadess, rising out of his chair. "You would have no crew for the ship. And the guymelef is out of my power to give! After you threw your life away two years ago, you knew that you would never be able to use her again!"

"Yes... by law..." Allen responded calmly. "And by this same law, I am sentenced to death if I ever return to Asturia. But these are different times now. Things have occurred that bypass these insignificant formalities! You know that we would never stand a chance of taking back Escaflowne without..."

"Then maybe it isn't your job to get Escaflowne back!" spit Gadess. "You don't have to save everyone, Allen. Some things are just out of your hands! You have to accept what you're given sometimes and stop trying to change it!"

Gadess fixed Allen with an angry glare. Allen continued to look at him passively in return. The effect worked; Gadess' anger subsided unwillingly.

"I'll see what I can do, okay?" he stated in a resigned tone. "Just answer one thing for me. It's been bugging me for a while now... Was it worth it?"

Allen eyed his friend cautiously. Although he wouldn't be the first to admit it, Allen wished that he had listened to his friend's pleas two years ago and not proceeded in his course of action. Gadess had been the voice of wisdom and sense at that time.

"She doesn't know what I did for her."

Gadess sighed and strode out of the room.

* * *

Hitomi pushed back her covers and swung her legs out of bed. But there was no bed, only a cot on the floor, and these same legs hit the floor abruptly. Startled, she opened her eyes and observed her surroundings. 

"_That's right, I'm still in Gaea,_" she reminded herself, casting her eyes around her chamber. She patted the sheets of her cot distractedly.

She pushed herself off of the cot and walked over to the nearest window. Expecting to see the dusty courtyard and the surrounding hills, she was surprised when she spotted a golden aviation craft. It was neatly parked in the square. A small group of ornately-clad individuals were being accompanied out of the contraption and into the fort.

She pressed her nose against the window, peering down at the group.

"Hitomi?" inquired a voice from the doorway.

Hitomi spun around to face the intruder. She had been engrossed in the scene below and hadn't been expecting company.

But it was only Van.

"Sorry... I should have knocked," he stammered.

She smirked. "_It's not as if I'm undressed or something..._"

He seemed to understand her thoughts and frowned in reply. "Listen, I only came up here to tell you that we're not allowed out of our rooms until the royal dignitary leaves. Gadess doesn't want us to draw any attention to ourselves."

Hitomi looked back out of the window. "_So that's what it's all about..._"

Crossing the room to stand beside her at the window, Van looked down at the courtyard. But by now, all of the guests had been ushered inside.

Van immediately withdrew his gaze from the window and turned to Hitomi once again. "There was one more thing I wanted to ask you..." he said slowly. "I don't know if it's possible, but..."

"What is it, Van?" she asked kindly.

"I wanted to know if you had your tarot cards with you."

"Why?"

"I know it sounds ridiculous... but I want you to do a reading," he confessed in an uncertain tone. "I need to know if I'll find Escaflowne and if I'll manage to take it from Zaibach."

Hitomi looked over her shoulder at her bag, lying open on a table in the center of the room. She remembered finding the cards several days ago in her locker, stuffing them in her bag, throwing them away from her on the beach... She also remembered her vow to never do another reading.

"I can't..." she replied earnestly. "I promised myself that I'd never deal another one of those cards again. They've always done more damage than good."

Van looked desperate. "But I need to know what's going to happen!"

"It doesn't matter. I know that you'll find Escaflowne and get it back no matter what the cards say."

"You shouldn't skirt the issue in this insincere way," he reprimanded. "You know just as well as I do that we could fail. Three years ago, we thought that we had succeeded when all was said and done, but look where we are today! Don't be afraid to take chances for once, Hitomi! Do a reading for me."

She was stunned by the strength and anger in his words. Although this reaction to losing his home again was understandable, she had forgotten how commanding Van could be. But Hitomi knew that they would succeed and knew that the cards meant nothing. She would not waiver this time.

"No, I won't," she replied tranquilly.

"Hitomi!" he urged angrily.

"And what are in these rooms?" asked a shrill voice from the hallway.

Hitomi and Van instantly fell quiet.

"Quarters for the soldiers and old storage rooms," replied Gadess. "Let's move to the upper level where we can see the..."

"No, no! I demand to see these rooms!"

"But there's nothing to see."

"That's what you would tell me if there was. Now open up these doors immediately. I order you to do so!"

Hitomi and Van listened intently as doors were unlocked and opened. Noises of soldiers – the dignitary's entourage – entering rooms echoed into their chamber. They became increasingly nervous about being discovered.

It seemed as though every door had been opened, except theirs.

"Alright, now on to the upper level..." started Gadess from outside.

"May I remind you that my memory is quite intact. You are forgetting one!"

Hitomi gasped. They would be discovered!

But Gadess still had his wits about him. A soft knock was soon heard on the door, with the intent of letting Hitomi and Van know that their door was about to be burst open.

Hitomi looked to Van, whose eyes were searching the room for a means of escape. These eyes froze on a door along the opposite wall. With no time to spare, they rushed over to the door and pulled it open, observing a small closet space. They stuffed themselves quickly.

Soon after, soldiers burst into the room.

Hitomi let out a sigh of relief, before realizing that her bag was still on the table of the room! She grabbed Van's shirt in anguish and he looked at her inquisitively.

Fortunately, if anyone did notice, they said nothing. The group soon left the room and the door was tightly closed thereafter.

"My bag was outside..." she whispered.

"Then you can let go of my shirt now?"

Hitomi looked at her hand that still held a fistful of cloth.

"Sorry..."

It was then that she realized how small the closet really was and how close Van happened to be. She looked into his eyes nervously and began to draw back, but he simply rolled his eyes in response. He shoved open the door.

"You first..."

Hitomi pushed her way out of the closet, followed shortly by Van.

Bracing herself, she expected the continuation of their argument and Van to insist upon having a tarot reading done. Van had never been the type of person to give up without a fight. But this time, he simply strode straight out of the chamber, without any parting words.

"_What did I do?_" she wondered, as he closed the door behind.

Shrugging, Hitomi lay herself back down on her make-shift bed and burrowed deep under the covers, with the intention of relaxing until the royal dignitary left. She was travel-weary and soon fell asleep.

* * *

Hitomi pushed back her covers and swung her legs out of bed. But there was no bed, only a cot on the floor, and these same legs hit the floor abruptly. In shock, she opened her eyes and observed her surroundings. 

"_That's right, I'm in Gaea,_" she told herself, casting her eyes around her chamber. She patted the sheets of her cot distractedly.

Pushing herself up, she padded over to her window and looked out. The sun was setting over the hills, and it cast soft, red lights over the courtyard.

But something began to cover the sun. She cast her eyes upwards, trying to make out more clearly the huge shadow that covered the sky. And then it appeared... a floating fortress was looming overhead.

Hitomi blinked in shock, and it was gone.

It took her a few moments to recover her breath, and by then, she realized that this was not the first time that she had woken up today. The events of the morning felt like a dream, leaving her with an unreal sense of time and space.

"_How could I have fallen asleep again?_" she cried inwardly.

Toppling out of her cot, she threw on her shoes... and would have run down the stairs if not for her sore ankle. She needed to warn the others about her disturbing hallucination! So she settled for limping as quickly as her foot would allow.

She slowly limped her way to Gadess' chamber, where she hoped that she might find the others. To her dismay, the room was empty. Turning around, Hitomi began to climb back up the stairs, hoping that they would be on the upper level.

Suddenly, a reverberance threw her off balance as a loud bang deafened her senses. She tumbled down the stairs.

"_What's going on?_" she asked herself anxiously.

Her body ached from the shock and Hitomi could barely bring herself to a sitting position. She tapped her ears, which still rung from the loud noise, and opened her eyes to the scene. Flames began to engulf the surrounding walls and bits of timber and plaster fell from above. She hoped that it was only a dream, as the orange flames continued to rise and smoke engulfed her senses and made her dizzy.

Forcing herself up, she began to make her way down the stairs carefully, cursing her unhelpful ankle. But the smoke was unbearable. Hitomi felt herself getting faint, and fell to the ground.

Before unconsciousness devoured her, two arms lifted her up.


End file.
